Archive for December, 2010

Happy Christmas! Following the popularity of the other banner which I shared here’s a pair of new ones as our present to you all. The one above is for the Anglican League, featuring the symbol of the Anglican church against the Cross of St George. The one below is for the British Union of Fascists, with the BUF symbol against the Union Jack.

To take a copy just click on the image and either save it to your hard drive or print it straight out. Then’s it’s yours to do with as you see fit. To get a reasonable sized printout at a good resolution I’m typically printing these out at between 5-15% scale, but play around you can make them any size you might need. If you use them please take photos of what you used them for and share them with me, I’d be fascinated to see where they might end up.

As the year draws to an end grown men and juveniles eagerly wait to see what, if any, lumps of metal they might get as Christmas presents. Dining room tables have to be cleared and as a result the hobby slows down as gamers and collectors twiddle their thumbs looking back at the previous gaming year. At 6mil mansions the boy Slug and are have reached a couple of major stages of ongoing projects. This is the Jihadistan project where we’ve put the final touches to the fundamental forces, Terry Taliban, Harry Haji, Micky Mujahadeen etc.

First up is this wonderful captured BTR. It’s a bit more 80’s Afghanistan than the ultra-modern this project is all about, but it shall play it’s part. I can’t claim any credit for this is any way, it’s part of a purchase I made from Uncle Crouchie.

It’s a lovely piece and beautifully painted in a peacock pattern by the man himself.

The whole thing was based on a photo from the conflict and Uncle Crouchie has replicated it perfectly. Originally I couldn’t find a copy of the photo to show you the connection, so thanks to Lowtardog who shared it with me via LAF.

I’m thrilled with this and reckon it’s the best vehicle in my entire collection, but of course you can’t just have a stolen BTR.

Here’s my second Technical but lucky for us all the photos are better than they were when I finished the first one way back in September.

These feature several Stan Johansen miniatures, the driver and the gunner and loader. The latter pair which have been slightly modified so they don’t appear as the same figures on different models. The sitting RPGer is by Empress. The one thing I will avoid in future is keeping the windscreen. It’s a severe discomfort in the posterior which I could have well done without. Vehicles look fine without it.

The vehicle is a boot fair find, costing a whopping 25 pence, and is a pullback and go. There has been a temptation to do this, typically from the Slug, but I have a vision of the thing shooting across the table and smashing into the wall and showering to the floor as a few hundred pieces. So we still don’t know what it might look like.

This picture gives you an idea of the detail in the back, since taking it I’ve gone back and put spent .50 cal shells on the floor to the right of the gun in the space. It looks much better but I doubt I’ll take another photo of it, so you’ll either have to take my word for it or use your imagination.

Here’s the third and final Technical, again using an diecast toy which has to be taken apart to be worked and painted, as well as having a few pieces discarded. The driver and spotter are both Stan Johansen, the other two Empress.

This one is a mortar carrier, the mortar coming from a 1/76th spares box.

It’s worked well and taken a fair amount of detail without getting too crowded.

The driver piece is average, but the addition of an AK on the passenger seat and a book on the dashboard helps to lift it. It’s interesting to see how some pieces, when photographed and blown up larger than the reality look really rough, like the driver.

You need a few miniatures as well, and here’s the bulk of our hoarde. A mix of TAG, Empress and Johansen, totalling just over sixty pieces. About half of them painted by either me or the Slug, and the other half painted by Uncle Crouchie and bought from him. A most welcome boost to the forces.

Here’s a few more who didn’t make the first photo, combines they’ll be imposing daft religious laws on a table near me soon.

The only other thing I figured we needed where some civilians, these all being Johansen.

So that’s the Jihadist done and dusted, although there are some goats still in the pipeline, but aside from that there’s not another single figure to paint for this project unless I get some for Christmas.

On Saturday 11th December 2010 a few chaps gathered together to decide the VBCW fate of one small town in this neck of the woods. With cups of tea aplenty and one of those new fangled radio stations tuned in on the wireless orders were issued…

Kent Area Kommander Slugg,
you are to liberate the town of Herne Bay and surrounding environs from any other faction which might control it. To sweep away the alien influence you will command:
You, Kommander Lloyd “Slugger”Slugg (elite) armed with a pistol and 3 grenades.
Captain Johnny “Kanga” Roo (elite) armed with a pistol and 2 grenades.
Seventeen (17) BUF Cliftonville Critics (regular) with 1 grenade, plus
One (1) Scout car (elite)with an armour value of 6.
One (1) Austin Armoured Car (regular)with an armour value of 9.
One (1) Morris Light Armoured Car (regular)with armour value 10.
One (1) Vickers Light Tank (regular) with an armour value of 11.
Unfortunately we don’t have any transport to offer you so your troops will have to walk to Herne Bay from our London Barracks, but as righteous Men of Britain this will not be a problem. It’s whinging about such realities which put this country in such a mess in the first place.
God Save the King, Hail Moseley and Good Luck!

Colonel Roderick Spode

BUF HQ SE

Major McElliot,
you are to assist the Kent area Fascists in their advance towards Herne Bay with the following units under your command.
Yourself, Major Jock “Strap” McElliot (elite), with a Thompson and 3 grenades.
Mr Eerius, BUF liason officer (elite), who has 2 grenades and a megaphone.
Sixteen (16) Royal West Kent Chums (regular) with 2 grenades.
Two (2) Royal Army Flying Corps pilots (elite) armed with pistols.
One (1) Morris Light Armoured Car (regular) with an armour value of 10.
One (1) Vickers Light Tank (Regular) with an armour value of 11.
One (1) Army Transport Lorry (Regular) armour value 4, plus
One (1) Bentley lent to you by Captain “Strangely” Brown in the mess last weekend.
We would have issued you with aeroplanes but they’re dreadfully difficult to get, but we’ve plenty of pilots but they’re expensive chaps so don’t allow them to be killed. Also try to keep damage to both civilians and their property to a minimum, oh and don’t forget to return Brown’s motor and before I forget the rules of engagement, i.e: don’t shoot at anyone unless they shoot at you.
Tally Ho!

Archie Wavell

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command.

Dear Reverend Phil Miccup,
how are your roses this time of year? I’m happy to say the winter killed off all sign of pests on mine. Dreadful shame the same couldn’t be said of these dreadful blackshirts who I find more disagreeable than the blackfly and not just because the flys are smarter, what? Be an absolute saint and pop along to Herne Bay for me, imagine Moseley has his eye on it. Take with your holy self Rev Phil Miccup (elite) armed with the word of God, an smg and 2 grenades;
Choir Master Strokes (elite) armed with a cross, an smg and 1 grenade.
Seven of St Johns Margate choir boys (regular), with 2 grenades.
Nine of St Johns Margate Anglican League (regular) with 1 grenade.
Charlie (the “illegitimate”) Tank (regular) with armour value 13.
St Johns Armoured Corp Light Tank (regular) with armour value: 9.
Pongo’s scout car, armour value 6.
East Kent Bus Company Bus armour value 4.
Should it all go Catholic shaped there are a series of explosive charges set to a central plunger in the lavatory just southwest of the ruin at Richborough. This will blow the sluice gates, and flood the area between Herne Bay and Thanet. Only use it as a last ditch effect, and bear in mind it’s not us who walk on water.
Bless you my son,

W.C.G. Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, Anglican League.

Commander Kerel Arkell,
to fight the British Fascists you have at your disposal the following;
Your Good Self, Kerel Arkell (elite) you have a pistol and 3 grenades.
Lord Ellington of Ramsgate (elite) who has a pistol and 3 grenades.
Ten (10) Arkell Brigade Belgian Infantry (elite), who all have 2 Grenades each.
Ten (10) St Nicholas Defenders – Aggressive Wing (militia).
One (1) St George’s Armoured Corp Light Tank (regular) with armour value: 9.
One (1) Bus hired from the East Kent Bus Company with armour value: 4.
One (1) Mobile Library, minus books, on loan from KCC, armour value 4.
One (1) Red sports Car, personal property of Lord Ellington with armour value 3.
The King of Belgium wishes you the best of success in this worthy battle and reminds you that under no circumstances should the bus be damaged as a large deposit has been paid on it. Fighting fascism is one thing, wasting money quite another, oui? Aside from this you have a free hand.
Royally Yours,

King Leopold (Just call me Trois) III

The junction of Herne Bay High Street and William Street had seen a small amount of artillery fire from off-shore during the night. No-one seemed to know whose ships did the firing but the recently formed Herne Bay Defenders decided to regroup somewhere other than Herne Bay, leaving it wide open for occupation from exterior powers.

The BUF come racing in from the West with an armoured column. While the Army charge in by foot.

To the East the Arkell Brigade drive slowly but with great precision from Reculver.

Meanwhile to the south-east the Anglican League arrive.

The streets clear of residents who sense some danger in the following hours. Local support for all thing BUF is symbolically displayed.

Charlie the Bastard Illegitimate leads the maneuvering onto the High Street while the omnibus parks.

Having invested heavily in modern armour the BUF infantry find they have to walk, even Kommander Slugg.

The BUF lead the way with a rapid advance.

Mild over-confidence strikes the BUF as their column comes under fire.

The lead vehicle takes minor damage,

…and then crashes into a wall.

At the other end of town the Anglicans storm into a small terrace. Unphased by their comrades difficulties the BUF armour pushes on.

On the North flank the Army regulars advance solidly and with good speed.

As do the Belgian volunteers of the Arkell Brigade.

A BUF vehicle maneuvers in support of the Army…

… but is infinitely delayed by a well aimed shot from Charlie.

The Arkell Brigade takes cover behind a barricade, opens fire on the Army and throws grenades in support with no small effect.

To the south the Anglicans barricade themselves in the terraced houses.

Just in time as the BUF arrive across the street and get pinned by small arms fire. British Army armour slowly advances with care, as the BUF column (reduced to two vehicles) slows.

Kommander Slugg seeks the protection of a nearby damaged building to allow his squad to regroup.

The holed-up Anglicans have spotted the BUF column and lay down a barrage of fire from everything they have, while the choir sings “Onward Christian Soldiers”.

The Morris Light Armoured Car looses a wheel as a result, the start of it’s troubles as soon after its Bren is damaged beyond use.

Unfortunately for Mr Yeats entering a simple home while bearing a banner is not as easy as might be assumed.

On Mortimer Street the greatly reduced squad of Major Jock “Strap” McElliot closes with a cool professionalism seldom seen during these troubled times.

Cunning use of the barricade and grenades combined decimates the Arkell Brigade.

Suddenly the town is rocked by a loud explosion as the only undamaged BUF vehicle, a converted Bentley, scores a lucky hit on Charlie with it’s heavy machine gun.

This lone vehicle attracts a few grenades from the nearby Anglicans,

as well as some well aimed small arms fire.

Together these wreck the Bentley and the only survivor, the driver, panics and runs off narrowly avoiding being run down by the BUF light tank.

Amidst the carnage will now fires the High Street, the driver tries to pull himself together.

However the Army light tank tries desperately to swerve and avoid running the bailed driver down.

Sadly he fails, as does the Morris behind.

However they do manage to destroy one of the imported TKS light tanks down by the building site.

Finally the St. Nicholas Defenders (Aggressive Wing) find themselves in a positon to engage the enemy, and post a lookout to spot targets for them.

His first sight of the battle field is a worrying one, not made any better when he sees his well aimed shots bounce off the Army armour.

Regrouped, Kommander Slugg rushes towards the opposing Anglicans.

Meanwhile Commander Kerel Arkell, having negotiated a withdrawal with Major McElliot, links up with the Militia in time to scoot off sharpish, abandoning all their transport. Lord Ellington is not impressed at losing his sports car, but keeps mum about it as Arkell has lost all but one of his Belgians, the only elite infantry in the fight.

Army Armour takes a defensive positionas they’re unable to open fire on the Anglicans unless shot at first as per their RoE. A messenger is sent for to offer a ceasefire and terms.

The BUF lays down a withering fire at the defending Anglicans, the bulk of which is taken by the structure bar one single light wound which strikes Mr Yeats in the back passage.

In response the St John’s Choir boys rain grenades down on Kommander Slugg. Only one is a good throw, but in exploding just one man suffers any wounding. A miracle given the BUF losses thus far.

Ammo starts to run low as messengers run back and forth between the sides, a ceasefire is agreed. The Arkell Brigade retreats hurriedly and on foot, the Anglicans protect that withdrawal in good order and with all their vehicles bar the lost tank “Charlie”, which they sneak back for later that night. Together they regroup at the pub at Reculver, and Rev. Miccup visits the plunger toilet and ponders his next move.

Having followed their orders to a capital T, the Army collects together their new vehicles and drive back to their barracks leaving the BUF in charge but wondering “Why doesn’t anyone like us?”.

This Game report is not finished YET! A full list of losses and the commanders after action reports will be added to it in the next few days…

Britain’s leading miniature manufacturer, Millwall supporter and professional troublemakerCrouchie recently commented on how The Boy Slug (aged 13) wields the old sable better than his dad 6mil Phil (aged 46). This may well be fair comment, or it could be an attempt at revenge for crimes against the BEF range, history and plain good taste by 6mil Phil in converting them for VBCW.

Aside from sending Slug to bed early without any lead, the best way to settle this is to have a paint-off. For father and son to paint in competition and have you, our peers, judge us in a blind vote to ensure fairness. This will settle things for at least a year.

The first step towards a fair competition is to allow fellow miniature enthusiasts and gamers to decide just what we should paint. So we’ve devised a poll of what we fancy but also with an option to define something we hadn’t thought of.

We were lucky enough to get hold of these WW2 Belgians by BEF Miniatures prior to their release at the Crisis show in Antwerp and they jumped the painting queue quite breathtakingly given how we still have bare figures from last Christmas. So in just over thirty days Slug has painted up half of them for a forthcoming, wait for it… VBCW game.

I can’t help feeling a little sorry for Uncle Crouchie, the man behind BEF, who started this range in a period which he adores in the hope we’d all start playing it once we had the relevent pieces. After a fair amount of blood, sweat and tears he offer plenty of pre-Dunkirk goodies and sells plenty of them, but we the fickle public are typically using them for a big “What-if?”.

Launching this range in Antwerp (which lies in Belgium for those of you who are geographically challenged or seppo) was an excellent idea. Plenty of Belgians left the show very happy at seeing an ignored area which obviously means a lot to them both historically and nostalgically, as well as a little stunned in finding them.

Slug reports the usual joy to paint which we enjoy with well-crafted miniatures, but also extra pleasure because they were so different from what he usually paints. He knows by heart the epaulette colour of WW2 Wehrmacht troops, the correct camo for a Para, and even what the BUF liked to strut around in. These however were an unknown, and meant research had to be done to get them right – all part of the fun!

Unfortunately my photos have let these down a bit again! For this I can only apologise. These kerels will be on a table near us soon as the anti-fascist Arkell Brigade who, allied with the Anglican League, will see off the fascists as they advance through Kent. Hurrah!

Almost finished my other Morris Light Armoured Car from BEF miniatures as seen above. The earlier one was done in British Army colours, and I’d bought this one for the BUF forces in VBCW. One of the problems I’d generated prior to painting this was mild boredom with painting BUF vehicles in the rather simple black scheme we all seem to have adopted. I expressed this to Uncle Crouchie the gent behind all things BEF and he suggested that in their adoration of all things Nazi they might well adopt more experimental ideas when it came to camoflage.

Hence this rather outlandish camo scheme was created influenced in part by WWI camo used by the Germans. It was fun to paint and works rather spiffingly. I’ve managed a finish which looks like someone was let loose with a big paint brush and a number of partially used tins of household paint over a couple of hours of some Sunday afternoon. I’m claiming this is deliberate, so any criticism of technique is effectively pointless.

The Bofors and Bren came with the kit, the only addition is the Bolt Action crew figure. At £16 each these are lovely little models which I highly recommend.

Slug excelled himself this week with the paint job above. Of course I did tempt him with this very fine figure by Mark Evans for Matakishi as part of a new range being developed for the fictional banana republic and African paradise of Babatunde.

One obvious differeance is how the original is a black African, while the paint job is a white European. The reason for this is quite simple, he’s yet another fine figure corrupted for our interest in VBCW – in this instance as a leader of the BUF. This is based on how brutish, thuggish and generally horrible the chap looks.

Christmas has come early for you lucky folk as I remember to share with you the banner I used for a VBCW standard bearer. Now I used it for the Anglican League despite it having a crown on it, but it’s a message which could be used by any faction, but hopefully not the pesky BUF. To grab it click on the image above and you’ll be offered a bigger version, right click it to save it and then you can print away to your heart’s content. If you have an Apple you’ll just have to figure out what to do yourself. Expect to play around with the size of your print-out but that gives you the choice of doing it just how you want. Cuppas all round!